An anti-GM food concept album by Neil Young may not seem a thrilling prospect, I grant you. But although People Want to Hear About Love, as he acknowledges on his song of that title, shouldn’t he talk about “the corporations hijacking all your rights”, too? And on-form and on-song – as he undoubtedly is here (he also has a pop at Starbucks, Walmart and Safeway) – Young is still a force to be reckoned with. There is urgency and energy here: “Too big to fail / Too rich for jail,” he sings on Big Box. It has certainly rattled the pro-GM lobby – Tory former minister Owen Paterson has attacked the “ageing songwriter” for his stance. He’s backed on his 36th album by Promise of the Real, an LA band featuring Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah. They sound not unlike Crazy Horse, and supply all the big riffs, crashing major chords and harmonies that have characterised Young’s best records for five decades.
